Arkan Interviews and Features

Arkan is s rising star in the "eastern" metal genre. Led by bands like Orphaned Land and Melechesh, this genre has exploded recently, because, as Arkan founder and drummer Foued Moukid says, "the listener needs now more originality in music and wants cultural innovation," instead of, say, more blast beats and screaming. Moukid was kind enough to take some time and answer our questions via email from Arkan's home base in France, and his thoughtful and reasoned answers are excellent insight into a rising band's mentality. Please enjoy.

Bloodofheroes: Why/How did you come up with the idea to mix death metal with oriental and other similar styles of music?

The idea of combining metal and oriental music in this project goes back a long way. I have always wanted to mix my cultural origins with the music I like most. Except a small number of bands, oriental music was not represented in the European Metal scene. I thought this project might bring a breath of fresh air as we try to mix two very different styles: Oriental music including chaabi, which is the most popular musical style in the Maghreb and a powerful metal with growls and hard riffs.

I must confess that it's difficult to find good musicians to form a metal band, but it’s even more difficult to find great musicians playing both metal and North African music. In 2005, Mus and Samir, former members of an Algerian death metal band named Worth, and Florent, a former member of Whisper-X, joined me with the same desire to try something new.